The average life expectancy of Chinese people has risen from 35 years in 1949 to 77 years in 2018, according to a statistics communique released by the National Health Commission.Life expectancy of Chinese people has been continuously increasing in recent years: from 76.34 years in 2015 to 76.5 years in 2016, to 76.7 years in 2017 and 77 years in 2018.From 2017 to 2018, the infant mortality rate dropped from 6.8 to 6.1 deaths per 1,000 live births, while the maternal mortality rate decreased from 19.6 to 18.3 per 100,000 births, according to government statistics.The communique also reported improvements in medical reform as more people seek treatment at primary-level clinics, and the number of medical workers in China increases.People’s right to social security, especially in health care, has been extended, said a white paper titled “Progress in Human Rights over the 40 Years of Reform and Opening-Up in China.”The coverage of the basic medical insurance has been expanding and the per capita basic medical insurance subsidy for urban and rural residents has been rising, it said.China has been promoting the “Healthy China” initiative, which aims to improve the national health policy and ensure the delivery of comprehensive lifetime health services.

China has remained the world’s largest exporter of aquatic products for 17 consecutive years, the country’s agriculture minister announced yesterday.Aquatic product exports have exceeded US$20 billion, with more than 97 percent of products meeting standards according to market monitoring, said Han Changfu, minister of agriculture and rural affairs.The country’s fishing industry has maintained rapid growth, with the output of aquatic products remaining the world’s largest for 30 straight years and accounting for more than 40 percent of the world’s total, according to Han.Meanwhile, various measures have been launched by fishing regulators at all levels to accelerate the industry’s transformation and upgrade and promote aquatic ecological protection.Han urged more efforts to regulate the conservation of fishery resources, crack down on illegal fishing and strengthen aquaculture monitoring to ensure aquatic product safety.The country will optimize its fishing ban system covering all types of water bodies and continue the tough battle against pollution in the Bohai Sea, Han added.

BUSINESS insiders believe China’s solar industry will become subsidy-free in a few years as the country tries to revitalize its photovoltaic sector after the government announced a plan to scale back its central subsidy system last year.China’s solar industry is expected to transition toward a subsidy-free market as early as 2021, according to an analysis of China’s solar industry published by Asia Europe Clean Energy (Solar) Advisory.The Chinese government has outlined a series of policies this year, looking to remove the hurdles that have been preventing the escalation of subsidy-free photovoltaic projects in the world’s biggest solar power market.China’s National Energy Administration announced plans in April to drive the development of new subsidy-free solar projects through policy support.It hopes new projects will be developed without the need for governmental subsidies, which it believed will steer the market in a new direction toward zero-subsidy renewables.According to the NEA, subsidy-free pilot projects commissioned by 2020 can enjoy 20-year power purchase agreements with fixed prices and top dispatch priority, guaranteed by grid companies.The generation of solar power posted faster year-on-year growth, at 12.9 percent, in the first quarter of 2019, against the backdrop that China’s power generation climbs 4.2 percent year-on-year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.Chinese photovoltaic companies have been motivated to seek more overseas opportunities in recent years, especially in countries and regions participating in the Belt and Road Initiative, said Lin Boqiang, director of the China Center for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University.

A GIANT screen at Huawei’s Smart City Intelligent Operation Center displaying real-time traffic, the flow of people as well as weather information caught many eyes at the recently concluded World Intelligence Congress.The 5G-based IOC solution serves as a “brain” to select and analyze big data, provide solutions for decision-makers, and offer technical support for emergency command, said Yuan Bin, a marketing expert with Huawei.Urban traffic, health care and access to city services are all expected to become easier with the latest technology, such as artificial intelligence and 5G.China has 167 cities with more than 1 million people and more than 500 cities committed last year to becoming smart cities.In Xiongan New Area, which is still under construction some 100km southwest of downtown Beijing, the citizen service center has online applications, cloud computing and big data.In north China’s Tianjin, where the WIC was held, a phone app that covers essential city services is being developed for citizens.Analysts say the push to make cities smarter is in line with the country’s advocacy of high-quality development.China is experiencing a large-scale and fast urbanization process, which requires more modern, data-based and intelligent social governance, according to Peng Sen, president of the China Society of Economic Reform.Emerging technologies are fueling the trend.Yu Shaohua, an academician with the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said 5G could allow access to the Internet at any time in any place by anyone, achieving the Internet of everything and integration of various industries to construct a smart city.One application is autonomous driving. In February, China’s telecommunication and expressway operators agreed to launch the country’s first 5G-based smart highway project in central Hubei Province.Customized servicesThe highway, combined with autonomous driving vehicles, would make it possible to gather real-time traffic information and make relevant predictions.Smart stores, which offer customized AI-powered recommendations to customers, are also being built in cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing and Jinan.Chinese technology companies such as JD.com, Suning.com and Alibaba have all been expanding their offline stores in recent years, rolling out more customized services with data gathered on consumers’ preferences.Experts say the integration of traditional businesses and technology may further stimulate consumption.“The smart business will reconstruct China’s consumption model, such as the integration of online and offline business and unmanned stores,” said Shi Guangshun, an associate professor with the College of Artificial Intelligence in Nankai University. “Such models are expected to generate more consumption.”Shen Jin, global vice president of Qualcomm, said that smart interconnection has people connected to a huge number of equipment terminals and other objects.Society can be more efficient, humanistic, innovative and safer, he said.

YUAN Renguo, former chairman of Kweichow Moutai Group, has been formally arrested for taking bribes, according to the Supreme People’s Procuratorate yesterday. The Guizhou Provincial Supervisory Commission has completed the investigation into Yuan’s case.

CHINA yesterday rolled off the production line a prototype magnetic-levitation train with a designed top speed of 600km per hour in the eastern city of Qingdao, Shandong Province.
The debut of China’s first high-speed maglev train testing prototype marks a major breakthrough for the country in the high-speed maglev transit system.
The testing prototype, which has one car only, can check and optimize the key technologies and core system components of the high-speed maglev system and lay a technological basis for the forthcoming engineering prototype, said Ding Sansan, head of the train’s research and development team and deputy chief engineer of CRRC Qingdao Sifang Co, the train’s builder.
“Now the prototype has achieved static levitation and is in good condition,” Ding said.
CRRC is currently building an experimental center and a trial production center for the high-speed maglev trains and expects to put them into operation in the second half of the year, he said.
The research of a five-car engineering prototype are going smoothly. The engineering prototype is scheduled to roll off the production line in 2020 and finish integrated verification in 2021 after going through comprehensive tests.
The high-speed maglev train can fill the service gap between the current high-speed rail and aviation services and is of great technological and economic significance in improving the country’s high-speed passenger transport network. High-speed trains in China now run at a speed of up to 350km per hour.
CRRC Qingdao Sifang launched a key state-level research and development program with the participation of more than 30 companies, universities and research institutes in July 2016 to develop high-speed maglev trains with homegrown intellectual property.
After nearly three years’ efforts, the team has made breakthroughs in major core technologies of the maglev trains and achieved important initial results in the sub-systems, including the locomotive vehicle, traction and operational control communication, said Ding.
Maglev train features high speed, safety, reliability, low noise and vibration, large passenger capacity, on-time performance and low maintenance. It can be used to connect major cities or city clusters to boost regional integration.
Shanghai is the only Chinese city operating a commercial high-speed maglev line. The Shanghai Maglev Train using German technology was put in use in 2003 on a 30km stretch between downtown Shanghai and the Pudong airport.

CHINA’S domestically produced floating airship, used in the second comprehensive scientific expedition in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, reached a record altitude of 7,003 meters in Tibet yesterday, according to its developer.
Developed by the Aerospace Information Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the floating airship named “Jimu No. 1” has a volume of 2,300 cubic meters. It can carry scientific instruments to conduct upper air observation and collect weather data.

CHINA is willing to work with Singapore to safeguard the rule-based multilateral trade system, Premier Li Keqiang said during his meeting with Singaporean Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat in Beijing yesterday.
Noting China’s opening-up has not only enhanced the well-being of its own people but also created tremendous opportunities for the world’s development, Li said China will open its door wider and welcome enterprises from all over the world, including Singapore, to expand their investment in China. It will continue to treat domestic and foreign-funded enterprises equally and constantly optimize the business environment.

Detective game apps are increasingly popular in China, bringing out the Sherlock Holmes in users and providing social outlets for aspiring sleuths.In February 2018, an app named Wo Shi Mi (literally “I’m a secret”) was launched on WeChat, as well as both the app stores of Android and Apple in June, becoming the first detective social game app in China.Similar apps followed, such as Juben Sha (“scripts of murder”) and Xijing Da Zhentan (“playing famous detectives”).These apps provide users with online platforms to act as detectives in different crime stories and find the truth through interaction with other players, known or unknown to each other.Unlike location-based games, users need to read the scripts and discuss the cases on the app. Clues are directly given to them and a click of the button will provide all the information needed. With the help of technology and the Internet, it’s also easier to gather enough people for a game.Zhao Lin, initiator of the Juben Sha app, said users of the game mainly come from first- and second-tier cities, and that every day about 50,000 people use the app. Zhao thought that the main reason behind the boom in detective game apps is their social aspect.Zhang Wenping, a postgraduate student at the Ocean University of China in Qingdao, east China’s Shandong Province, is a devoted Juben Sha player. He regards socializing as the most appealing part of the app.“To me, it’s not only a game, but a way of meeting more people as well as maintaining my current social network,” Zhang said.

THE transformation of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou railway from one on which trains could first travel at only 35kph to today where they are set to speed by at 350kph showcases the development of the country’s railways and economy.Linking Beijing and the city of Zhangjiakou in north China’s Hebei Province, the upgraded 100-year-old railway will play an important role in transportation for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, which is co-hosted by the two cities.The Beijing-Zhangjiakou railway was designed by Zhan Tianyou, known as the “father of China’s railroad,” and was opened in 1909 after four years work.The construction of the railway was considered impossible at the time without foreign assistance. Zhan, with his colleagues, strived to complete its construction two years ahead of schedule, overcoming a series of problems in terrain and shortage of train power by building a zigzag railway that climbed upward, using two locomotives instead of one.With a speed limit of 35kph more than a hundred years ago, the railway will be upgraded into a high-speed line that is nine times faster by the end of 2019.There are 10 stations on the 174km-long high-speed railway connecting the two cities, which will also be linked with the subway lines in Beijing, serving as a crucial traffic line for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.The station of Qinghe, the departure station of the high-speed railway, will be another comprehensive transport hub in Beijing.“We are using a lot of advanced equipment and technology in the construction of the new high-speed railway, which I believe represents the rapid development of our country,” said Li Ran, a member of the construction team.Yang Cunxin, head of Qinglongqiao station, added: “The railway not only reflects the economic development and the progress in modern science and technology of China, but also witnesses the unyielding and striving spirit of the Chinese people.“A lot of people including university students visit here every spring in memory of Zhan.”China’s high-speed railways exceed 25,000 kilometers and are expected to reach 30,000 by 2020, covering more than 80 percent of cities with a population of more than 1 million.

Chinese experts have called for prudence and coordination in protecting and developing the heritage of the Grand Canal of China, the world’s longest man-made waterway.According to a plan issued in February by the general offices of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council, a cultural belt will be built along the canal’s existing main course and those used in recent history.Wu Xiaohua, deputy head of the team that compiled the plan, said implementation should be firmly based on the concept of respecting, complying with and protecting nature.“Efforts should be made to gradually improve water conditions in the river course after a long-term pre-phase deliberation,” said Wu, who is also deputy director of the Chinese Academy of Macroeconomic Research.“We must make coordinated efforts to avoid drastically changing the current water and navigation capabilities.”He also called for strict control on industries that have negative environmental impacts along the Grand Canal.“We should also promote the integrated development of culture and tourism based on the canal’s unique resources and its well-developed water and land transportation,” Wu said.Fan Zhou, director of the Culture Development Institute of the Communication University of China, said promoting culture and tourism should focus on the uniqueness of the canal while offering more diversified and tailored tourist services and improved infrastructure.A smooth mechanism for coordination is also key to the work, said Wu, urging greater coordination at the national level and the establishment of a multi-regional and multi-sectoral coordinating mechanism.The eight provinces and cities along the canal are among the most economically developed and urbanized areas in China.Accounting for less than 10 percent of the national total land area, they have more than one-third of the country’s overall population and contributed nearly 45 percent to China’s economy in 2017.The Grand Canal is almost 3,200km long in total, stretching from Beijing to Hangzhou.

China will send six to eight new satellites equipped with the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) into space this year, according to the ongoing 10th China Satellite Navigation Conference.Two to four BDS-3 satellites will be launched in 2020 when the BDS-3 system will be fully completed, said Ran Chengqi, director of the China Satellite Navigation Office. BDS will have the functions of short message communication and international rescue, as well as a satellite-based augmentation service covering China and surrounding areas, said Ren.BDS system, independently constructed and operated by China, currently has 38 in-orbit satellites including 18 BDS-2 and 20 BDS-3.China started to build the BDS-3 system in 2009. The BDS-3 primary system has started to provide global service since the end of 2018.China is also planning to finish building a high-precision, national comprehensive positioning, navigation, and timing system on the basis of the BDS by 2035.

THREE more Chinese airlines, besides China Eastern, have filed claims for compensation against Boeing for the grounding since March and delayed delivery of the 737 MAX fleet following two deadly crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia.
Air China, China Southern and Xiamen airlines announced yesterday that they had filed claims.
The aircraft was grounded worldwide in March after two crashes killed 346 people.
Air China said that grounding and delays to delivery of the aircraft had resulted in great losses.
Guangzhou-based China Southern, Asia’s largest carrier by fleet size, said a letter had been sent to Boeing requesting negotiations on compensation as soon as possible.
China Eastern that operates the country’s second-largest fleet said grounding the 737 MAX had resulted in great losses that were still expanding.
The delayed delivery has also caused losses.
Air China has 15 737 MAX aircraft and China Southern owns 24, while Xiamen Airlines’ 10 737 MAX are being berthed at Xiamen and Fuzhou airports in southeast Fujian Province.
Shanghai’s China Eastern has 14, operated by affiliates.
All have been grounded on the orders of the Civil Aviation Administration of China.
China Eastern had planned to take delivery of another 11 aircraft this year.
According to analysts, the cost of renting a comparable aircraft is about US$1 million over three months.
Grounding means higher maintenance and management costs, while some passengers may be reluctant to fly.
Shanghai Airlines, a subsidiary of China Eastern, has its 737 MAX in storage at Lanzhou and Taiyuan airports in north China. Both are cooler and less humid than Shanghai.
“The Boeing 737 MAX model has been grounded around the world. As we all know, the reason is that there are security risks and the technical problems are not solved,” said foreign ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said on Tuesday.
China has ordered the largest number of 737 MAX aircraft. Thirteen carriers operate 96 such aircraft. By the end of January, Boeing had delivered 350 MAX worldwide, with more than 4,500 still on order.
Domestic operators also include Hainan, Shandong and Shenzhen airlines.
China was the first to ground the 737 MAX after the Ethiopian Airlines crash appeared to have similarities to the Lion Air crash. Boeing has acknowledged that it had to correct flaws in its simulator software used to train pilots.
“Boeing has made corrections to the 737 MAX simulator software and has provided additional information to device operators to ensure that the simulator experience is representative across different flight conditions,” it said in a statement.
According to media reports, Boeing may face compensation claims of more than US$2 billion.
This is the second time that global airlines have asked for compensation from Boeing after the grounding of its aircraft. Carriers received compensation after the US Federal Aviation Administration grounded the Boeing 787 Dreamliner in early 2013.

CHINA will prosecute the former deputy Party secretary and chairman of luxury liquor maker Kweichow Moutai, the Communist Party of China Guizhou Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection said yesterday.
Yuan Renguo, a former official of the world’s largest listed alcohol firm, with market capitalization of 1.12 trillion yuan (US$162.3 billion), has been expelled from the Party and removed from all posts.
Yuan “severely violated political discipline and used dealership qualification of the Moutai liquor as tools of strings pulling and exchange of interests,” the commission for discipline inspection said in a statement.
He took exceptionally large bribes and ran illegal for-profit business, it added, among other accusations.
Moutai, which sells its fiery Feitian 53 baijiu for close to US$250 per bottle, is often served at official banquets and business dinners.
The brand has close ties with Chinese culture, drawing on its long history as the national liquor of choice.
In March, the firm posted its second consecutive double-digit annual profit growth, racking up 35.2 billion yuan in full-year net profit for 2018, up from 27.08 billion a year earlier.

CHINA must prepare for difficult times as the international situation is increasingly complex, President Xi Jinping has said, as the US-China trade war continues to escalate.
During a three-day inspection this week of the eastern province of Jiangxi, a cradle of China’s Communist revolution, Xi urged people to learn the lessons of the hardships of the past.
Arriving in Yudu County on Monday afternoon, Xi paid tribute to a monument marking the departure of the Long March by the Central Red Army and met families of the Red Army veterans and revolutionary martyrs.
Noting that China is on “a new Long March,” he said that the country will depend on firm faith and strong will of the whole Party and all people to overcome major challenges at home and abroad and secure new victories in building socialism with Chinese characteristics.
The Long March was a military maneuver across 12,500 kilometers from 1934 to 1936. It was carried out by the Red Army and led by the Communist Party of China to combat the Kuomintang regime. The expedition, beginning in Yudu, laid the foundation for the Party’s victory.
“Our country is still in a period of important strategic opportunities for development, but the international situation is increasingly complicated,” he said.
US have escalated a trade friction with China as it increased tariff on Chinese imports since early this month, and the tension has intensified since Washington last week blacklisted Chinese telecom equipment company Huawei Technologies Co Ltd.
The listing, which curbs Huawei’s access to US-made components, has rattled technology supply chains and investors.
China must be clear-headed about the long-term and complex nature of both domestic and international unfavorable factors and well-prepared for any difficult circumstances, Xi emphasized, adding that the most important thing for China is to do its job well.
Xi’s first stop in Jiangxi was JL MAG Rare-Earth Co Ltd in Ganzhou. Visiting the company on Monday, he underlined scientific and technological innovation to raise the technological level of exploitation of rare earth, which is strategically important but nonrenewable.
He also requires efforts to enhance the comprehensive strength and competitiveness of the country’s central region and to make new advances in the rise of the central region.
He made an eight-point instruction on the development of central China, which consisted of facilitating high-quality growth of the manufacturing industry, enhancing innovation capability in key fields, improving business environment, undertaking the layout and transfer of emerging industries, expanding high-level opening-up, sticking to green development, improving people’s livelihood, and optimizing policies and institutions.
At a symposium in Nanchang on promoting the rise of China’s central region on Tuesday, Xi said that the rise of central China is a crucial step toward completing the process of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and realizing socialist modernization.
Describing Jiangxi as a land full of revolutionary history and memories, Xi called for a deep understanding of the hard-earned establishment of the political power of the CPC, the People’s Republic of China and socialism with Chinese characteristics, and demanded greater efforts to carry forward the revolutionary spirit and traditions.

FACING unstability and uncertainty in the world, the members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization should boost all-round cooperation to promote regional stability and prosperity, said Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
Since the SCO Qingdao Summit last year, the member states have made steady progress in cooperation across the board, said Wang at an SCO foreign ministers’ meeting in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan’s capital. While the world is grappling with the resurrection of protectionism and a cold war mentality, the SCO remains a vital and constructive force for world peace and development, said Wang.
To deepen cooperation within the SCO, efforts should be made to strengthen solidarity and mutual trust, said Wang, adding that member states should firmly support each other’s efforts to safeguard core interests and jointly resist interference by external forces. Wang also urged member states to deepen security cooperation by jointly combating the “three forces” of terrorism, separatism and extremism, adding that China is willing to share its useful experiences of taking preventive counter-terrorism and deradicalization measures in China’s Xinjiang.

Officials and conservationists yesterday released more than 100,000 adult Dabry’s sturgeon and fry into the Yangtze River in southwest China’s Sichuan Province to help restore the wild population of the endangered species. The release in the city of Yibin also marked the start of an awareness campaign that will see volunteers and experts sail along the country’s longest river on a 23-day tour to promote marine species protection with visits, exhibitions and seminars in riverside cities and towns.

Authorities in the Pearl River valley are bracing for a tough year fighting flood, drought and typhoons.Precipitation along drainage areas of the Pearl River, the second-largest river in China in terms of run-off volume, is higher than the previous yearly average, said Shu Qingpeng, director of the Pearl River Water Conservancy Commission of the Ministry of Water Resources.The El Nino effect is likely to continue, he said.The Xijiang River and Beijiang River, two major river systems in the Pearl River valley, are likely to see floods, while strong typhoons are expected to make landfall during the summer season, he said.Parts of the areas are likely to see a concurrence of drought and floods.Chen Wu, commander-in-chief of the flood control authorities along the Pearl River, ordered local authorities to carry out their duties, step up supervision and monitoring as well as enhance coordination between different areas along the river.He also required local authorities to prepare for the drought period.This included ensuring the security of water supply in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area.

At least six people are now listed as dead and 87 injured after the roof of a night bar collapsed on Monday in the city of Baise, southern China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The injured are in stable condition, according to the regional emergency management department. A total of 23 people have been summoned by local police for investigation, and seven have been detained on suspicion of causing a major safety accident. An investigation has been launched and cleanup efforts are still going on. An overhaul of the safety of public areas and the building industry has been put in place to avoid similar accidents.

A MAP that lists a total of 3,970 baby-care rooms in eastern China’s Zhejiang Province has been published to help breastfeeding mothers. Most of the rooms are located in companies, public institutions, economic areas, parks, shopping malls and transit stations. The map can be accessed on the website of the provincial federation of trade unions. Facilities for breastfeeding and diaper-changing have long been in short supply in public areas in China. Equipped with a table, two chairs, a fridge and other facilities catered toward mothers, each room is around 10 square meters.